Today, practice humility

“Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Matthew 23:12 NLT

Paul had one of the greatest ministries the world has ever known, yet he said of himself, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). When people told Paul how great he was, he stayed humble by remembering what he used to be. If you believe God has called you, your response should be to bow down in humility before Him. When the Angel of the Lord told an aging Zechariah he would father a son named John the Baptist, he doubted what the angel said, and because of his lack of faith, he was struck dumb until the time of John the Baptist’s birth (see Luke 1:18-20 NIV). Ezekiel had a book in the Bible named after him. That’s heady stuff! Yet when God called him, he collapsed on the floor and God had to tell him to get up, saying, “Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee” (Ezekiel 2:1). When John the Revelator saw Jesus standing in the midst of the seven churches, he wrote, “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead” (Revelation 1:17). Can you see a pattern emerging here? Paul wrote, “Walk…with…lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering” (Ephesians 4:1-2 NKJV). Think about the phrase “walking with God.” Whose company are you in? God’s! Can you think of a higher calling? And the higher your calling, the lower you must become in your own estimation. Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself; it means thinking of yourself less. Jesus summed it up like this: “Those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Today, practice humility.

Bible in a year: Ezekiel 27-29 and James 3